ALWAYS USE THIS SKILL when a user asks for help preparing their Japanese tax returns AND mentions freelancing, self-employment, 個人事業主, フリーランス, sole proprietorship, or kojin jigyounushi.
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General reference only
This Guide is general tax/accounting reference material for AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for your personal facts, documents, elections, deadlines, residency, filing status, or local procedures. Do not rely on it to file, pay, amend, or take a tax position without review by a qualified professional in the relevant jurisdiction.
Source-cited draft. This Guide is source-cited but has not been reviewed by a licensed practitioner. It may be incomplete, outdated, or wrong.
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Every figure is drawn from this Tax Guide and cited to its source. See something that looks off?
Consumption tax exemption threshold (base period revenue)
¥10,000,000消費税法第9条
Simplified tax calculation (簡易課税) eligibility ceiling — base period revenue
≤ ¥50,000,000消費税法第37条
Standard consumption tax rate
10%消費税法
Reduced consumption tax rate
8%消費税法
2割特例 (20% special provision) — availability through tax year
Available through tax year 2026 returns令和5年改正法附則
Cancellation notice deadline before fiscal year end to opt out of invoice registration
≥ 30 days before end of current year消費税法
Invoice registration number format
T + 13 digits消費税法
Foreign clients / exported services — consumption tax treatment
No Japanese consumption tax (zero-rated)消費税法第7条
Blue return special deduction — e-Tax + double-entry bookkeeping (or 電子帳簿保存)
¥650,000租税特別措置法
Blue return special deduction — double-entry bookkeeping, paper filing
¥550,000租税特別措置法
Blue return special deduction — simplified bookkeeping
¥100,000租税特別措置法
基礎控除 (basic deduction) — income ≤ ¥24,000,000
¥480,000所得税法
配偶者控除 (spouse deduction) — maximum amount
¥380,000所得税法
配偶者控除 eligibility — spouse's 合計所得金額 ceiling
≤ ¥480,000所得税法
配偶者特別控除 (special spouse deduction) — spouse income range
¥480,001 – ¥1,330,000 (合計所得金額)所得税法
配偶者控除 / 配偶者特別控除 — taxpayer's own income ceiling
≤ ¥10,000,000所得税法
扶養控除 — general dependent
¥380,000 per dependent所得税法
扶養控除 — specific dependent (age 19–22)
¥630,000所得税法
扶養控除 — elderly dependent (age 70+)
¥480,000所得税法
扶養控除 — elderly dependent living together (同居, age 70+)
¥580,000所得税法
生命保険料控除 — maximum per category (new system, post-2012): 一般 / 介護医療 / 個人年金
¥40,000 each所得税法
生命保険料控除 — total maximum (new system, post-2012)
¥120,000所得税法
地震保険料控除 (earthquake insurance deduction) — maximum
¥50,000所得税法
小規模企業共済等掛金控除 (incl. iDeCo) — deductibility
Fully deductible (全額控除)所得税法
医療費控除 — threshold (income ≥ ¥2,000,000): fixed floor
¥100,000所得税法
医療費控除 — threshold (income < ¥2,000,000): percentage floor
10% of income所得税法
源泉徴収 rate — payments up to ¥1,000,000 (applicable income types per 所得税法第204条)
10.21%所得税法第204条
源泉徴収 rate — payments above ¥1,000,000 (applicable income types per 所得税法第204条)
20.42%所得税法第204条
申告分離課税 rate for 配当所得 / 譲渡所得
20.315%租税特別措置法
予定納税 obligation threshold — prior year 申告納税額
≥ ¥150,000所得税法
予定納税 — 1st period instalment month
July所得税法
予定納税 — 2nd period instalment month
November所得税法
予定納税 — amount per instalment
1/3 of prior year's 申告納税額所得税法
開業届 (business opening notification) filing deadline
Within 1 month of starting business所得税法第229条
Depreciable asset threshold — generally capitalise if ≥
¥100,000所得税法
少額減価償却資産の特例 — eligible asset cost range (blue return filers)
¥100,000 – ¥299,999租税特別措置法第28条の2
少額減価償却資産の特例 — annual aggregate cap (blue return filers)
¥3,000,000 per year租税特別措置法第28条の2
一括償却 (3-year straight-line grouping) — eligible asset cost range
¥100,000 – ¥299,999所得税法
繰越損失 (carryforward losses) — maximum carryforward period for blue return filers
Up to 3 years所得税法
国民年金 monthly premium (implied from annual ¥203,760 / 12)
¥16,980 per month国民年金法
The intake orchestrator for Japan-resident self-employed individuals. Every downstream Japanese content skill (japan-consumption-tax, japan-income-tax, japan-social-insurance, jp-estimated-tax) and the assembly orchestrator (jp-return-assembly) depend on this skill running first to produce a structured intake package.
This skill does not compute any tax figures. Its job is to collect all the facts, parse all the documents, confirm everything with the user, and hand off a clean intake package to jp-return-assembly.
v1.0 follows the upload-first, inference-then-confirm pattern:
ask_user_input_v0 -- 3 interactive questions, ~30 seconds.Target: intake completes in 5 minutes for a prepared user, 15 minutes for a user who has to go fetch documents.
Do not narrate the workflow. Do not say "Phase 1," "Phase 2," "Now I'll ask you about deductions." Just do the work.
Do not ask questions that have already been answered. If the refusal check established the user files a blue return, do not later ask about return type. Track what is known.
Do not ask about things visible in uploaded documents. If the bank statement shows 国民年金 (National Pension) debits, do not ask "did you pay pension." Confirm what you see, do not re-ask.
Use ask_user_input_v0 for any multiple-choice question. Text input is only for genuinely open-ended data (names, addresses, specific amounts when they cannot be inferred).
Prefer batching. Ask 3 related questions in a single message when they do not depend on each other's answers.
Be terse but complete. No hedging, no "let me know if you have questions," no "I hope this helps."
Exception for blocking decisions. If a single question determines whether the user is in-scope or out-of-scope, ask it standalone.
When triggered, respond with ONE message that:
ask_user_input_v0Example first message:
Let's get your 2025 Japanese tax returns (確定申告) ready. Quick scope check, then you upload your documents, then I fill in the gaps. Target time: 10 minutes.
Reminder: everything I produce needs to be reviewed and signed off by a 税理士 (zeirishi / licensed tax accountant) before you file anything with the 税務署 (tax office). I'm not a substitute for review.
Scope check:
Then immediately call ask_user_input_v0 with the refusal questions.
Do NOT:
Present the refusal sweep as a single ask_user_input_v0 call with 3 questions, all single-select.
Total time: ~60 seconds if the user taps through.
Once the refusal sweep passes, immediately ask for the document dump. Single message. No preamble.
Example:
Scope is good. Now upload everything you have for 2025 -- drop it all in at once:
- Business bank account statements for all of 2025 (CSV or PDF)
- Sales invoices issued in 2025 (請求書)
- Purchase invoices / receipts for business expenses (領収書)
- Prior year's 確定申告書 (tax return) and 青色申告決算書 or 収支内訳書
- 源泉徴収票 (withholding tax certificate) if you received payments with withholding (源泉徴収)
- 控除証明書 (deduction certificates): 社会保険料, 生命保険料, 地震保険料, 小規模企業共済
- 国民健康保険料 (NHI) payment notices from your municipality
- 国民年金 payment certificates from 日本年金機構
- Prior year's 予定納税 notices or payment receipts
- Accounting software export (freee, Money Forward, やよい, etc.)
- Any 税務署 correspondence
- Anything else tax-related you have
Don't worry about labeling or organizing -- I'll figure out what each file is. Drag and drop when ready.
Then wait. Do not ask any other questions while waiting.
If the user uploads a partial dump and says "that's what I have": move to inference. Do not demand more. Request specific missing items during gap-filling.
If the user says "I don't know what I have": Switch to guided mode:
Check these places:
- Business bank: download 2025 statements as CSV or PDF
- Accounting software (freee, Money Forward クラウド, やよいの青色申告): export 仕訳帳 or 総勘定元帳
- e-Tax: download prior year 確定申告書 and 決算書
- 年金事務所 or ねんきんネット: download 国民年金控除証明書
- Municipality: 国民健康保険料 payment statement
- Insurance companies: 生命保険料控除証明書, 地震保険料控除証明書
- Clients: request 支払調書 (payment records) or check for 源泉徴収票
- Email: search for "請求書", "領収書", "確定申告", "税務署"
Come back when you have something to upload. I'll work with whatever you bring.
Bank statement:
Total deposits (candidate 売上 uriage / revenue)
Recurring inflows (client payments with names)
Outflows to 税務署 (所得税 income tax payments, 予定納税 estimated tax)
Outflows to municipality (住民税 juminzei / resident tax)
Outflows to 国民健康保険 (NHI premiums)
Outflows to 国民年金 (national pension premiums)
Outflows to suppliers (business expenses by category: 経費 keihi)
Equipment purchases (potential 減価償却 genkashoukyaku / depreciation assets)
Transfers to personal account (事業主貸 jigyounushi kashi)
SaaS / software subscriptions
小規模企業共済 (Small Enterprise Mutual Aid) payments
iDeCo (個人型確定拠出年金) payments
生命保険 (life insurance) premiums
地震保険 (earthquake insurance) premiums
Sales invoices inference items — Sales invoices (請求書): - Client names and amounts (税込 tax-included and 税抜 tax-excluded) - Whether consumption tax was charged (and at what rate: 10% standard, 8% reduced) - Whether invoices are 適格請求書 (qualified invoices) with registration number - Total 売上 reconciliation against bank deposits - Any clients applying 源泉徴収 (withholding): 10.21% on payments up to ¥1M, 20.42% above ¥1M (per specific income types listed in 所得税法第204条) - Foreign clients (no Japanese consumption tax on exported services per 消費税法第7条) (所得税法第204条; 消費税法第7条)
Purchase invoices / receipts inference items — Purchase invoices / receipts (領収書): - Expense category (経費科目: 旅費交通費, 通信費, 接待交際費, 消耗品費, etc.) - Consumption tax paid (仕入税額控除 input tax credit, if consumption tax filer) - Any items qualifying as 減価償却資産 (depreciable assets): generally ≥ ¥100,000 - Items ¥100,000-¥299,999: eligible for 一括償却 (3-year straight-line) or 少額減価償却資産の特例 (immediate expensing for blue return filers, up to ¥3M total per year per 租税特別措置法第28条の2) - Any blocked categories (家事関連費 mixed personal/business without clear business proportion) (租税特別措置法第28条の2)
Prior year 確定申告書 / 青色申告決算書:
源泉徴収票 (withholding certificates):
Amount of income subject to withholding
Amount withheld (源泉徴収税額)
Client name and address
Will be credited against final tax liability on 確定申告書
Deduction certificate inference items — 控除証明書 (deduction certificates): - 社会保険料控除: 国民健康保険, 国民年金 amounts paid - 生命保険料控除: 一般, 介護医療, 個人年金 categories and amounts (new system post-2012: max ¥40,000 each, total max ¥120,000) - 地震保険料控除: amount paid (max ¥50,000) - 小規模企業共済等掛金控除: 小規模企業共済 and iDeCo amounts (fully deductible)
After parsing everything, build an internal inference object. Do not show the raw inference yet -- transform it into a compact summary for the user in Section 5.
After inference, present a single compact summary message. Use a structured format that is fast to scan. Invite the user to correct anything wrong.
Example summary message:
Here's what I pulled from your documents. Skim and tell me what's wrong.
Identity
- 田中太郎 (Tanaka Taro), married, 1 dependent child
- Full-year Japan resident (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo)
- 個人事業主, 開業届 filed
- 青色申告 (blue return), e-Tax filing
- 適格請求書発行事業者 registered (T1234567890123)
Income (from bank statement + invoices)
- 売上 (revenue, tax-excluded): ¥12,500,000
- ABC株式会社: ¥6,000,000 (monthly retainer, 源泉徴収 ¥612,600)
- DEF合同会社: ¥4,000,000 (project work)
- Various smaller clients: ¥2,500,000
- 消費税 collected (10%): ¥1,250,000
- 源泉徴収 total withheld: ¥612,600
Expenses (from bank + receipts, tax-excluded)
- 地代家賃 (rent -- home office portion): ¥720,000 (TBD -- need business use %)
- 通信費 (internet, phone): ¥180,000 (TBD -- need business use %)
- 旅費交通費 (travel): ¥350,000
- 消耗品費 (supplies): ¥120,000
- 新聞図書費 (books, subscriptions): ¥85,000
- 外注費 (subcontracting): ¥800,000
- 減価償却: MacBook Pro ¥280,000 (April 2025) -- 少額減価償却資産特例 eligible (blue return, < ¥300,000)
- Total deductible expenses (preliminary): ~¥2,535,000
Social insurance (from 控除証明書 + bank statement)
- 国民健康保険: ¥620,000
- 国民年金: ¥203,760 (¥16,980 x 12)
- 小規模企業共済: ¥840,000 (¥70,000/month)
- Total 社会保険料控除 + 小規模企業共済等掛金控除: ¥1,663,760
Estimated tax (予定納税)
- 1st period (July): ¥250,000
- 2nd period (November): ¥250,000
- Total paid: ¥500,000
Prior year (from 2024 確定申告書)
- 2024 事業所得: ¥8,200,000
- 2024 申告納税額: ¥750,000
- 繰越損失: none
- 青色申告特別控除: ¥650,000 applied
Consumption tax (消費税)
- Revenue > ¥10M in base period (2023): likely consumption tax filer
- 適格請求書発行事業者 registered
- 2割特例 (20% special provision): TBD -- check eligibility
- 簡易課税: TBD -- check if 届出書 was filed and base period ≤ ¥50M
Flags I already see:
- Home office -- need business use percentage for rent, internet, phone (家事按分)
- MacBook Pro ¥280,000 -- eligible for 少額減価償却資産の特例 (immediate expensing) since blue return and < ¥300,000. Verify total 少額 assets don't exceed ¥3M for the year.
- 源泉徴収 ¥612,600 from ABC株式会社 -- will be credited against final tax. Verify 支払調書 matches.
- Consumption tax method needs determination: 本則課税 vs 簡易課税 vs 2割特例
- Revenue ¥12.5M -- above ¥10M threshold, so 2027 will definitely require consumption tax filing regardless of invoice registration
Is any of this wrong? Reply "looks good" or tell me what to fix.
After the user confirms the summary (or corrects it), ask about things that cannot be inferred from documents. Use ask_user_input_v0 where possible.
Things that usually cannot be inferred:
ask_user_input_v0 with: Q: "Home office (自宅兼事務所) setup?" Options: ["Dedicated room, used ONLY for work", "Dedicated desk/area in a room", "Shared space (living room, kitchen)", "Separate office or coworking space (not at home)", "No fixed workspace"] If option 1 -> ask for room area and total home area for 家事按分 percentage. Commonly accepted: room area / total area. If option 2 -> flag for reviewer: partial room use. Often 30-50% of room, then room/total for overall percentage. Conservative approach recommended. If option 3 -> flag: shared space makes 家事按分 harder to defend. Conservative percentage (10-20%) with documentation. If option 4 -> rent already captured in business expenses. No 家事按分 needed. If option 5 -> skip home office entirely.ask_user_input_v0 with: Q: "Consumption tax (消費税) calculation method?" Options: ["簡易課税 (simplified) -- filed 届出書 with tax office", "本則課税 (standard) -- actual input tax credits", "2割特例 (20% special provision) -- was 免税事業者 before invoice registration", "Not sure -- help me choose"] If "Not sure" -> compute under all eligible methods and recommend the one producing the lowest tax. Note in reviewer brief.ask_user_input_v0 with: Q: "Medical expenses (医療費) in 2025?" Options: ["Over ¥100,000 for the household", "Under ¥100,000", "Used セルフメディケーション税制 (OTC medicine deduction)", "Not sure"] If over ¥100,000 -> request 医療費の明細書 or individual receipts. Deduction = total - ¥100,000 (or total - 10% of income if income < ¥2M).Once gap-filling is done, produce a final handoff message and hand off to jp-return-assembly.
Example handoff message:
Intake complete. Here's what's going to the return assembly:
個人事業主, blue return (青色申告), married with 1 dependent, e-Tax filing, 適格請求書発行事業者. Revenue ¥12.5M tax-excluded, estimated 事業所得 ~¥9.3M before blue return deduction. Consumption tax filer.
I'm now going to run the full Japanese return preparation. This covers:
- 消費税 (consumption tax) return
- 所得税 確定申告書 (income tax return) with 青色申告決算書
- 社会保険 reconciliation (国民健康保険, 国民年金)
- 予定納税 and estimated payments for 2026
You'll get back:
- A working paper with all forms and computations
- A reviewer brief with positions, citations, and flags for your 税理士
- A filing calendar with all upcoming deadlines
Starting now.
Then internally invoke jp-return-assembly with the structured intake package.
The downstream skill (jp-return-assembly) consumes a JSON structure. It is internal and not shown to the user unless they ask. Key fields:
{
"jurisdiction": "JP",
"tax_year": 2025,
"taxpayer": {
"name": "",
"name_kana": "",
"date_of_birth": "",
"my_number": "",
"marital_status": "single | married",
"spouse_income": 0,
"dependents": [],
"residency": "full_year",
"address": "",
"tax_office": "",
"business_type": "kojin_jigyounushi | freelance_no_kaigyo",
"blue_return": true,
"blue_return_deduction_level": "650000 | 550000 | 100000",
"invoice_registered": true,
"invoice_registration_number": "",
"filing_method": "e_tax_mynumber | e_tax_id_password | paper"
},
"income": {
"jigyou_shotoku": {
"uriage_zeikomi": 0,
"uriage_zeinuki": 0,
"consumption_tax_collected": 0,
"client_breakdown": [],
"gensen_choushu_total": 0
},
"other_income": {
"kyuuyo_shotoku": 0,
"fudousan_shotoku": 0,
"haitou_shotoku": 0,
"zatsu_shotoku": 0
}
},
"expenses": {
"keihi_by_category": {},
"kaji_anbun": {
"rent_business_pct": 0,
"internet_business_pct": 0,
"phone_business_pct": 0,
"utilities_business_pct": 0
},
"depreciation_assets": [],
"shougaku_assets": []
},
"consumption_tax": {
"filing_required": true,
"method": "honsoku | kani | niwari_tokurei",
"kani_gyoushu": 0,
"base_period_revenue": 0,
"was_menzei_before_invoice": false
},
"deductions": {
"shakai_hokenryo": {
"kokumin_kenko_hoken": 0,
"kokumin_nenkin": 0,
"other": 0
},
"shokibo_kigyou_kyousai": 0,
"ideco": 0,
"seimei_hokenryo": {
"ippan": 0,
"kaigo_iryou": 0,
"kojin_nenkin": 0
},
"jishin_hokenryo": 0,
"iryouhi_koujo": 0,
"furusato_nouzei": 0,
"haigusha_koujo": 0,
"fuyou_koujo": 0,
"kiso_koujo": 480000
},
"estimated_tax": {
"prior_year_shinkoku_nouzei": 0,
"yotei_nouzei_1st": 0,
"yotei_nouzei_2nd": 0,
"total_paid": 0
},
"prior_year": {
"jigyou_shotoku": 0,
"shinkoku_nouzei_gaku": 0,
"kurikoshi_songaku": 0,
"depreciation_schedule": []
},
"open_flags": [],
"refusals_triggered": [],
"documents_received": []
}
Refusals fire from either the refusal sweep (Section 2) or during inference (e.g., corporate structure discovered in documents).
Check IN1 -- No one-question-at-a-time prose in the refusal sweep. If the skill asked "Question 1 of 10" or walked through questions as separate messages, check fails.
Check IN2 -- Refusal sweep used ask_user_input_v0. The first substantive interaction used the interactive tool, not prose questions.
Check IN3 -- Upload-first flow honoured. After refusal sweep, the skill asked for a document dump before asking any content questions.
Check IN4 -- Documents were parsed and inferred before asking questions. The inference summary (Section 5) was shown before gap-filling questions (Section 6).
Check IN5 -- Gap-filling only asked about things NOT visible in documents. If the skill asked "did you pay 国民年金" after the bank statement showed pension debits, check fails.
Check IN6 -- Open flags captured. Anything ambiguous, risky, or attention-worthy during inference is in the open_flags list in the handoff package.
Check IN7 -- Handoff to jp-return-assembly is explicit. The user was told "I'm now going to run the return preparation," and the downstream orchestrator was explicitly invoked with the intake package.
Check IN8 -- Reviewer step was stated upfront and reiterated before handoff. The opening message mentioned 税理士 signoff.
Check IN9 -- Refusals were clean. No hedging. Stop means stop.
Check IN10 -- No meta-commentary about workflow phases. The skill did not say "Phase 1," "Phase 2," etc.
Check IN11 -- Total user-facing turn count is low. Target: 8 turns or fewer from start to handoff for a prepared user (1 refusal batch + 1 upload + 1 confirmation + 1-3 gap fills + 1 handoff). More than 12 turns for a normal intake is a check failure.
Check IN12 -- Blue/white return status was established. 青色 vs 白色 was confirmed before inference, as it changes deduction levels and bookkeeping expectations.
Check IN13 -- Consumption tax method was determined. 本則課税 vs 簡易課税 vs 2割特例 vs exempt was confirmed or flagged for computation comparison.
For a prepared user (documents in a folder, ready to upload):
For an unprepared user (has to go fetch documents):
Inputs: User-provided documents and answers.
Outputs: Structured intake package consumed by jp-return-assembly.
Downstream skills triggered (via jp-return-assembly):
japan-consumption-tax -- 消費税確定申告書 (consumption tax return)japan-income-tax -- 所得税確定申告書 with 青色申告決算書 or 収支内訳書japan-social-insurance -- 社会保険料 reconciliation (国民健康保険, 国民年金, 小規模企業共済)jp-estimated-tax -- 予定納税 and estimated payments scheduleThis skill and its outputs are provided for informational and computational purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Open Accountants and its contributors accept no liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this skill. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified professional (such as a CPA, EA, tax attorney, or equivalent licensed practitioner in your jurisdiction) before filing or acting upon.
The most up-to-date, verified version of this skill is maintained at openaccountants.com. Log in to access the latest version, request a professional review from a licensed accountant, and track updates as tax law changes.
This skill is a tool, not an engagement. Every taxpayer's situation is different, and the rules in the skill may not match your specific facts.
To speak with one of the licensed accountants who verifies skills for your jurisdiction — no liability on either side until you and the accountant sign a formal engagement letter — book a free 30-minute call:
We'll route you to the named verifier covering your country or state. You can also see the full list of verified accountants at openaccountants.com/network.
Other Japan computations in the OpenAccountants Tax Library.
Rendered from the facts database. General reference only — confirm with a qualified professional before acting.
Pasting this into your AI section by section is slow and easy to get wrong. Add to your AI and it loads the whole Guide automatically — with dependency resolution, conservative defaults, and a handoff to a licensed accountant when you need one.
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